Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos has adopted a plan that would let him sell as many as 50M shares before early next year, the company disclosed on Friday.
The plan, made public in Amazon’s 2023 annual report, was adopted on Nov. 8, 2023 as part of the SEC’s rule 10b5-1(c) to sell up to 50M shares over a period of time before Jan. 31, 2025, subject to certain conditions. Bezos, who co-founded Amazon in 1994, owns roughly 10% of the company, or approximately 990M shares, according to a 2023 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Rule 10b5-1(c) was enacted in 2000 as part of a crackdown on insider trading.
At current levels, the 50M shares would be worth roughly $8.6B to Bezos. His net worth is estimated to be $185B, making him the third richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire’s Index. Only LVMH (OTCPK:LVMUY) founder, chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault and Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk are worth more.
Bezos has not sold any Amazon shares since 2021 however he did buy a single share on May 25, 2023.
Amazon also disclosed the trading plan of several other executives in its annual report, including Chief Executive Andy Jassy and Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky.
Jassy adopted a plan that will allow him to sell up to 190,000 shares before Dec. 31, 2024, while Olsavsky enacted a plan to sell 31,400 shares before May 28.
Shares of Seattle-based Amazon rose 7.9% in mid-afternoon trading on Friday after the tech giant reported fourth-quarter results and guidance that topped Wall Street’s expectations.
